NHL salary cap rises to $50.3 million next season

Associated
Press

The NHL
salary cap will rise to $50.3 million per team next season, an increase of $6.3
million from last season, the league and players’ union announced Friday.

It’s the
second increase under the collective bargaining agreement that ended the
yearlong lockout in 2005.

The key
issue in the lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season was the
owners’ insistence to include a salary cap and the players’ association’s
unwillingness to accept it. The union finally gave in, and has had a financial
windfall.

Teams
don’t have to spend up to the ceiling, but each club’s payroll must be at least
$34.3 million. The range from top to bottom is always $16 million.

The first
season following the lost year featured a cap of $39 million, and that figure
rose to $44 million for the 2005-06 season.